My baby is turning 8 this year. EIGHT! I can't believe it! She is smart, has a beautiful heart, lives for God, and has just enough sass to round her out. For YEARS (at least half of her cute little life) she has been begging me to have a sleepover. I just never felt she was old enough.

I remember having sleepovers when I was little, I don't remember how old I was, but they usually all involved at least two or three of my cousins. It wasn't until I got a teeny bit older did it involve some of my friends as well.

Unfortunately, we don't live close enough for the cousins Mads age to attend so I wanted to wait a bit longer to let Mads do the whole sleepover thing. I feel eight is a good age.

So, this summer, we will have our very first sleep over! Eeeek! I am SO excited! I am NOT telling her until we get a LOT closer because I know she will ask us every day how much longer we have.

Because I am SO excited, I have already started shopping, come on you guys know I can't hold back when it comes to shopping for fun events! HA!

Last week I noticed that Totsy was having a Sleepover Event! How fun is THAT?!?! Do you shop Totsy? Oh my goodness! It is one of my favorite deals sites to shop! Totsy works kind of like a flash deal site, except their deals last a few days rather than a few hours. Plus, their prices are great!

So, I logged on and started shopping the sleepover event. Oh my gosh! EVERYTHING you could think of was on sale at this event! There were cute waffle makers, pj's, sleeping bags, popcorn makers, oh just so much cute stuff!

I may have gone just a little overboard! HA! There was just so many cute things! One of my favorite things I purchased was this CUTE flat iron case!

I can't wait to use this! Yes, I did have to get something for myself! Why should the girls have all the fun?

Since I LOVE online shopping, I of course went back today to find more cute things! They are currently having a Carter's Footwear event. FUN!

I can not WAIT to surprise Mads with the news of her sleepover and to share what else I have up my sleeve as we get closer!

I
am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This
shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study forCollective Bias® #CBias #SocialFabric All opinions are my own.

Taking care of your emotional health is SO important! I know for myself, I am an overly emotional person. One time I went for a teeth cleaning and all the dentist said to me was "Hi". That is all it took for me to turn into a bucket a of tears. When I become overly stressed out, nervous, excited, etc....I cry. I don't mean to, that is just what my body does.

Through the years I have found that if I just take a bit of time to focus on ME I can control the crying better. Oh gosh, please don't think I walk around crying nonstop! HA! I don't, I promise! lol Back to my point, it is very important to find out how to help your emotional health and figure out what works best for you.

Seeing as how taking ME time is SO important to MY emotional health and another thing that helps is to give to others, I decided to make some treats and give them to a few of my friends for Valentine's Day! I headed to Sam's to pick up a few supplies, like NIVEA Lotion. I have found Sam's Club has the BEST value when it comes to NIVEA Lotion! You get two BIG bottles for just over $8, that's AWESOME! Being as NIVEA is one of my favorite brands, I like to stock up.

Once home, I put together these CUTE little treat bags. Included were some funny NKOTB Valentines I made, a Cutie Pie pie, a FUN Summery Polish, Chocolate, Iced Coffee and of course NIVEA Lotion! Hopefully the treats helped them take a little time for themselves. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE surprising my friends with fun things and it was REALLY hard to keep this surprise under-wraps. But, I did it, and it was a success, and they all loved it!

Like I said before, taking care of your emotional health is SO important! NIVEA helps you do that with NIVEA Million Moments of Touch by connecting touches. Be sure to check out NIVEA at Sam's Club!

How do you take care of your emotional health?

I
am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This
content has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study
for Collective Bias™ and Beiersdorf for NIVEA. #NIVEAMoments #CBias
#SocialFabric All opinions are my own!

Being that I love both vanilla beans and strawberries, I was intrigued. Plus, the fact that these particular donuts had been pinned over 7,000 times, I knew they had to be good! As I read the recipe I saw that the glaze uses Jello! JELLO! I thought that was pretty interesting so I decided to try a batch.

They were REALLY good! The icing was a bit thick for my liking, that is a quick and easy fix though. Next time I will just use a bit more milk.

Now, I know what you are thinking. Yes, I told you the recipe used Strawberry Glaze. I was out of Strawberry Jello so I used what I had....Mixed Berry. They were still great! That is another great thing about this recipe, you can change the flavor just by using different flavors of Jello!

The donut itself is REALLY good! These would be great just sprinkled with a bit of powdered sugar as well....or just plain. I might even turn this batter into cupcakes soon.

Give these a try! You will not be disappointed!

Do you have a favorite recipe you would like me to review? Send it to me, check out my Contact section for ways to send in your recipe!

I received a free sample of L'Oreal BB Cream from SheSpeaks.com. All opinions are my own.

As most of you know, BB Cream is HOT right now! I was pretty excited when I received this sample in the mail, L'Oreal is a brand I trust and have used a few of their products in the past.

This product gives you sheer coverage to create a natural bare
skin finish, while delivering built-in benefits. It features four
beautifying actions, primes and smoothes,
perfects to hide flaws, hydrates, and corrects and evens skin.
The L'Oreal BB Cream is infused with skincare ingredients like Panthenol, Vitamin
E and Glycerin for 24-hour moisturization.

To apply, simply dot on and blend with fingertips. Self-adjusting beads will instantly transform and blend to your skin tone.

L'Oreal Paris Magic BB Cream retails for $10.95 for 1 fl oz. It is
available in four shades and is sold at mass food and drug retailers
nationwide. Click here to find out more.

What I thought

I like this product! When I first read that there were color beads in the cream I did freak a bit. My skin is super sensitive to any type of beads/exfoliates. I was very nervous to try the product after reading that. But, I forged on and.....I honestly did not feel them at all! I was shocked! I just knew my face would end up being very irritated, but it was not, I could not feel the beads at all! *I wanted to add that I have seen a few reviews of this product that received the darker shades and they COULD feel the beads. I am not sure why the fair is so different from the other shades but, it looks like it is.

The first thing you will notice about the L'Oreal Paris Magic BB Cream is that it comes out of the tube white. I thought there was a defect at first, I assure you there is no defect. I received 'Fair' and have seen a few other reviews that received darker shades, their BB Cream was white as well.

As you apply the cream the color beads pop open to create a wonderful shade that blends in naturally with your skin tone. The cream feels kind of like a wet powder as you are putting it on and becomes a bit dewy until it sets. Once the cream sets it becomes a bit more matte, but not super matte, while still being a touch dewy.

The L'Oreal Magic BB Cream offers a light coverage. You will not be able to hide acne with this product, but you can build the product up and help conceal a bit better. For me the coverage was just fine. I used this BB Cream for about 2 weeks and the entire time I used it I would apply the BB Cream, allow it to set for a few minutes, then apply powder. I did not use a foundation or concealer. I liked the finished look and for me gave just enough coverage without being fake looking.

Check out this video for more thoughts on the product!

Want to learn even more and have the chance to WIN over $700 worth of prizes?? RSVP for the #MagicBBCream Twitter Party! The party will be held on Thursday, March 7th at 9pm ET!

Rimmel London is one of my FAVORITE cosmetic brands. I have about 4 go to brands when it comes to makeup, I like to switch them around depending on what look I am going for.

I have been using Rimmel since I was in high school. I saw an ad (probably in Teen or Seventeen) about a new makeup that promised to keep your face looking matte. Being that I had super oily skin....I HAD to try it! I have been in love since!

Like I mentioned before, I have about four different makeup brands I switch out depending on what look I am going for. Rimmel never lets me down on how great their coverage is. Like in high school, I still have oily skin. Ugh! That is one thing I wish would just go away. But, on the other hand, I have heard that having oily skin is good because it keeps you looking younger longer. Awesome!

Two of my favorite products from Rimmel are their 'Stay Matte' pressed powder and their 'Clean Finish Matte Foundation'. The foundation is a Walmart exclusive so be sure to look for it the next time you are shopping. When combined the coverage, for me, is near flawless. Since I have oily skin it is important to me that my makeup stays on and does not get absorbed. I have been using both of these products for a while and I can go throughout my day without reapplying.

A few more products I picked up while at Walmart were the BB Cream (it has an SPF of 25), the Stay Glossy Lipgloss, the Skandaleyes Kohl Eyeliner and the Glam Eyes Quad Eye Shadow. There is not one product I tried that I did not like! That's awesome! I love playing with makeup, I always have, so being that most of the products I bought were around $3.97 makes experimenting that much more fun.

I put together a little video for you guys giving more details of each product and what I thought of them.

So, there you have it! My views on Rimmel London and why I love them!

Have you tried Rimmel before?

I
am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This
shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study forCollective Bias® #CBias #SocialFabric #RimmelWalmart All opinions are my own!

Last week I gave a teaser about being SUPER excited to be participating in the SoFab Valentine's Exchange. Yesterday, I posted the pic above on my FB page. This is the cute little goodie box I sent to my Valentine!

Everyone that participated in the swap filled out a short little form to let their cupid know a few things about them. I was given my Valentine's name and knew she liked crafting, chocolate, toffee and baking. I also found out her favorite colors were gold and pink. We were given the challenge to spend no more than $5.

I searched Pinterest to see what ideas I could come up with. As I mentioned above, I knew she LOVED chocolate. I did not want to just send chocolate so I found a recipe for Brownie Pie Pops! I used a heart cookie cuter to get the heart shape. They are SO good and I personally think they are better with just a bit of sugar sprinkled on top just before baking.

I also wanted to send some things she could use. I had already purchased some cute cupcake liners a few weeks ago for another project, I also purchased sprinkles for Valentine's Day Doughnuts. I broke the packages of each apart and repackaged them.

My Pops did not fit in the little box I had so I just wrapped them in parchment and bakers twine then put the cute little 'You're as Sweet as Pie' tag on it. On the little box I just simply added some Washi Tape and a Paper Doilie folded in half, and of course red and pink tissue paper on the inside.

Here is a breakdown of cost, what I used/included and where I got them from:

Sprinkles and Cupcake Liners - Free! Again, I had already purchased these for another project so I had them on hand (I do tend to over buy, trust me...I still have PLENTY left for my other project). Purchased at Walmart.

Tissue Paper - Free! Seeing a trend yet? I purchased the tissue paper last year to make big tissue paper flowers with.

Sweet as Pie Tag - Free! I found the tags online at Living Locurto! She has AWESOME printables! She also happens to have a YUMMY hand pie recipe on the post with the pie tags!

Yeah, I know...the words LIGHT and Cheese Grits really don't belong in the same general area. But see me out!

A few years ago my mom came across a recipe for Cheese Grits, I really have no idea where the recipe came from. Anyway, she started making them every year for either Thanksgiving or Christmas or both. I was VERY hesitant to try them because...um...well...grits are gross!

Do you know what they are made out of? Do you? They are made out of HOMINY! Do you know what hominy is (other than a small town in Oklahoma?) it's fermented corn! GROSS! YUCK! BLECH! No thank you, I will pass!

But, my mom pulled the good 'ol "Just try a little bite, I really think you will like them." UGH!! FINE! I tried one little, itty bitty, tiny bite. They weren't so bad. So then I tried another. The rest, they say, is history!

These grits are creamy and super cheesy, yet super crunchy on top and around the edges! This recipe is also adjustable! You can easily adjust the recipe for your needs, weather that be the full pan or just two servings. I have started to make the recipe for just two servings, I am the only person in my house that will eat them so I am not wasting a lot of money on ingredients. This also gives me one to eat with my dinner and one to eat with lunch the next day! Plus, one serving is only 3-4 Points Plus!

Today I am going to share the recipe for two servings, you can find and print the recipe for 16 servings here.

If your kids are like mine....they LOVE fruit snacks! If you are like me....you secretly love them also.

A few weeks ago the lovely people from SunRype USA teamed up with the lovely people from SheSpeaks.com and sent bloggers across the country with a box FULL of SunRype goodies!

Inside the box were 3 different types of snacks with 2 different flavors each.

First, there were the Fruit & Grains bars. I have to admit, it did not look very appealing at all. But, I put that aside and bit into the bar anyway. It really wasn't THAT bad. Please know that I normally do not eat things like this anyway. I tried the summer berries bar. It was good, but something I will more than likely not pick up at the store. If you normally eat bars like this, I bet you would love these. There are lots of grains in the bar. The texture of the bar is very grainy and just breaks apart in your mouth. Out of the 3 these were my least favorite.

Next I tried the fruit bars. I am a BIG fan of natural fruit leathers and this is just a giant version of a fruit leather, to me. I tried the strawberry and oh my gosh! It was SO good! These are the PERFECT afternoon snack for me! I looked up the points value on these bars but now I can't remember if they were 2 or 3 points. But, either way, they are totally worth it plus, each bar counts as 2 fruit servings! Mads tried these as well but did not care for them. That is fine, I will eat them all!

Finally, we tried the fruit strip. These are perfect to toss in your child's lunch! Each little strip pulls apart so there is a fun factor with these. These are VERY chewy/gummy/sticky. I did not like that aspect but I am also not sure that can be helped. Both girls liked these, both flavors were great!

The strips are fun to pull apart and play with! Let your kids play with their food once in a while!

I was worried I would not be able to find these in my local stores, but as we were grocery shopping the other night....my hubby actually pointed them out! We were in the produce section and he said "Hey! Look at these, I bet these are good!" He had no idea I had a box full of them sitting in the kitchen! lol

In the end, the fruit bars and strips will definitely be picked up at the store the next time we see them, the fruit and grain bars....well....I am sorry but I am going to have to pass on those.

You can find #SunRype on Facebook! Be sure to like their page, they have a coupon up right now for B1G1 Free! But hurry, there are very limited qualities!

I was provided with SunRype product through SheSpeaks. This is a sponsored post, all opinions are my own.

Welcome!

Hi! My name is Brandi Morgan and I am the owner of The Shabby Green House and The Creative Princess. I love blogging, crafting, cooking and traveling. I also love my little family and enjoy sharing our fun and crazy life with you.